Student art exhibition celebrates LGBT History month

The Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries is hosting an exhibition by Ashleigh Nicole, studying BA (Hons) Illustration, supported by the Equality and Diversity department at the University of Portsmouth.

The exhibition is running from Friday 1 February – Friday 1 March in Eldon Building West on the first floor in the main corridor.

The display is a series of 8 posters created for LGBT+ History Month which represent a visual timeline portraying a selection of icons and activists; promoting their achievements to inspire and promote the community today.

Ashleigh told us “Following on from my university project; ‘Social Sequences,’ I developed on my research and final submissions to produce a series of 8 posters which depict a selection of LGBT+ Icons and a short biography of them.

“My main theme was the LGBT+ movement. I selected this after volunteering with the Equality and Diversity team at Portsmouth Pride and wanted to continue my involvement within the community after joining the LGBT+ Society. I also wanted to educate myself more on the history and turn my findings into an art piece that would educate and inform others in turn.

“After looking at the wider picture I decided to focus on people rather than events and I began to interview friends in the community and produce work in response to this. Then I moved onto historical figures and icons from the present day, producing a series of experiments leading to my first version of the posters. I then developed and altered these based on feedback and used my skills in watercolour painting in combination with Adobe Illustrator to turn them into posters.

“The purpose for these posters is to inform people about famous icons that they may already know and lesser known individuals and their contribution to the movement. From this, I used research and art to make posters that highlight diversity and positive achievements within the LGBT+ community – both historically and currently, which is especially important for LGBT+ History Month.

“I am a second year student at the University of Portsmouth, currently studying BA (Hons) Illustration and I create illustrations, character/concept art and storyboards in mainly traditional mediums. My focus is to promote diversity and the LGBT+ community through my skills in creative formats.”

Nicky Ansell, Equality and Diversity Advisor, working on the project, said “Ashleigh has produced a great exhibition which the Equality and Diversity team have been pleased to support for LGBT History Month. It’s been a great pleasure working with her, she has shown great professionalism, has been eager, hardworking and reliable and took up the suggestion to include some UK icons in her sequence with equanimity. Ashleigh has also included some lesser known LGBT figures in her sequence and we hope this will help broaden awareness and encourage students and staff to think of the contributions made to society by LGBT individuals and our own role in supporting and protecting their rights.”